A little push from Fate
by korovee
Summary: Syaoran lives in S. Tsubasa, alone, and takes lessons w/Ryûo at Nihon Dojo with Kurogane. Fai is a freelance with secrets & breaks in to cook for Kuro. Sakura is wanted by debt collecters and doesn't know why. What happens when fate brings them together?
1. Encounters

**Chapter One**

**Encounters**

**As an unexpected surprise, I have come up with another fic haha. It really was unexpected, I was in the middle of my AP US History class when it came to me and I screamed. I've been on Writers Block, hehe, so this was great. I hope you like it so far. I'll post Chapter 2 sometime soon, if you guys like it enough.**

**-Korovee  
**

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Syaoran held out an open hand, smiling as he pulled Ryûo to his feet. Ryûo, on the other hand, did not look as pleased.

"How old are you again?"

"Sixteen."

"…And you've been here just one week, the week I wasn't here?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure he's human Kurogane-sensei?" yelled Ryûo over his shoulder, posing himself for another round. He carefully balanced and grinned mischievously. "You better get ready kid, I'm not going easy on you again –"

A loud whap cut off the teen off, sending him into streams of curses and yelps. Kurogane snatched the wooden sword out of his hand, glaring down at his student in distaste. "If you were taking it easy on him, why did you try to mimic my Hama-Ryo-o-Jin?" He growled, clearly displeased.

Ryûo frowned, massaging the top of his head tenderly. "I was not…"he muttered stubbornly, watching as Kurogane handed his other student a bag of ice for his heavily bruised arm. "I was trying to do my family's style…"

"Your family style has a completely different stance moron." Kurogane threw him a pack of ice. "Don't try to pull a fast one on me."

The stubborn teen grinned all the same, catching the ice with ease. "Yea, Yea. Whatever."

"Thank you for the lesson Kurogane-sensei." Syaoran bowed, returning the borrowed sword. "I learned a lot today."

"It's nothing…" Suddenly, Kurogane whipped around and threw the wooden sword at his other student. Ryûo slipped to the ground, narrowly missing the scarily accurate throw. "**WHAT THE HELL YOU CRAZY ASS TEACHER?!"**

"**WE HAVE CHANGING ROOMS YOU DUMB ASS, DON'T STRIP IN HERE!!"**

"**I WAS JUST GOING TO TAKE OFF MY SHIRT, GOD! YOU DO THIS TOO!!"**

Syaoran laughed, catching both of their attentions again. "It is true though Kurogane-san. You do take off your shirt during or after practice in the dojo sometimes."

Ryûo smirked, continuing to tear his shirt off. "Told you. And you." He pointed at the brunette. "I like you."

He turned to his teacher, smiling like a fool. "Can we keep him?"

Kurogane frowned. "He's not a dog."

"Whatever. Syaoran, right?"

"Uh-huh?"

"You can call me Ryûo – but do you want to stay for dinner? I board at the dojo, and for rent I cook dinner and clean, but I don't mind it cooking for you! Come on, it'll be fun, you can even stay and we can stay up watching movies! We don't have school tomorrow too—"

Kurogane shoved the boy past the now open door. "Forget it, don't listen to this idiot. He can't cook for crap, and I'd rather not take another kid to the emergency room for food poisoning. They're starting to get annoying, what with wanting to send Health department agents to check out the dojo and see what the hell is going on here…"

"_**Once.**_ _Once, _I gave you food poisoning, and I said I was sorry! It was an accident – Why did you still have those vegetables?!"

"It was your damn fault for not cooking them long enough – and what the hell kind of sauce did you use anyways?!"

"… I didn't use a sauce?"

Syaoran chuckled nervously, shaking his head. "Um, no thanks. My stuff is at home anyways and I have to work today. Thank you for the offer though."

"Well then, you should probably get home kid. It's late anyways," Kurogane muttered gruffly as he tossed Syaoran's stuff to the floor. "So get a move on."

Ryûo looked horrified. "Sensei, you're so rude…" he gasped, placing an arm around the other boy's shoulders. "Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"

"I'll show you some damn manners boy if you don't shut the hell up…"

Ryûo grinned back, letting Syaoran go. "Don't worry." He said, helping the teen put on his backpack. "He's a lot nicer than this I swear. Plus if he swears at you, it means he likes you."

"_Where the hell did you get that idea you moron?!"_

"See? What did I tell ya?" He laughed heartily, waving Syaoran out the door. "See you soon then!"

As soon as the door shut, Ryûo turned to glare at his teacher, hands placed firmly on his hips. "You could be a lot nicer to him! I like this guy, and you always chase away all the people I like!"

"It's not my damn fault that they don't have the guts to stick it out like you do. Either that, or your just one crazy ass kid. I'm pretty sure it's that one too." Kurogane tossed the boy a broom. "You better not half ass your chores again, or you're sleeping with the bears in the mountains next time we go hiking. So if I find some crap stuffed under a floorboard one more time, you're outta here, got it?"

"Yeah, yea…" Ryûo blinked, holding up a jacket. "This isn't mine – Oh crap! Syaoran! You forgot your jacket!!"

Kurogane tugged him back from his bare shoulder. "Don't even bother kid, he's long gone by now. I've seen him walk and by now, he should be half way to work."

Ryûo frowned, glancing at the jacket in his hands worriedly. "But it's going to rain in a little…And hard too…I can still make it if I run—"

"Kid, when I said forget it, It wasn't a choice, it was an order. If he needed it this badly, he would've come back for it by now, alright?"

Ryûo huffed, muttering a few silent curses as he began to grudgingly sweep the wooden floors. "The only reason he probably didn't come back is cuz of the stupid teacher…"

"You really want to sleep out in the rain tonight, don't you?"

* * *

Sakura had to admit defeat here; she had completely no idea as of where she was. She had never been this far out of the city, her complications…Well, certain problems she had would never have allowed her this far away from home – but even now, there would have been no way she would even come to the southern-North end of Tsubasa. Anything past the top northern part of Tsubasa city was dangerous, over run with crime, gangs, etc. In a sense, those in North Tsubasa believed to be above the lower city, due to the better pay and jobs. This had proven deadly for the city…but that was beside the point. The point was she was lost, and being pursued for reasons she did not know.

Sakura tripped, falling face first into a pile of mud. She whimpered, doing a quick scan of her body, the most damage being her scrapped hands—but she had no time. She rose to her feet and kept running. She couldn't stop now, not now, even if her lungs felt ready to explode. They were gaining inches and feet on her now, and if they caught her, who knows what would happen. Her parents…

She skid to an unexpected stop, barely making a stop in front of the unsteady rusty rails that prevented people from falling into the Feather River. The river divided the city in half, but it had unpredictable currents, sometimes calm, others, raging. This was not one of its good days.

"HEY! I SEE HER!!"

By this time, Sakura was gasping for air, unable to keep a steady stream of air in her lungs. She swallowed nervously, backing up against the rail as she checked her surroundings – there was nowhere to run, and even if she did, there was no way to tell where she was going. The rail creaked and gave way. Too shocked to scream, Sakura could only watch in surprise as the barely visible faces disappeared from her view when dirty water obscured her vision. She surfaced, coughing and sputtering, and tried to swim for the edge, but the currents were too strong. Without another second wasted, she pulled further and further in, and before she realized it, she had left the boundaries of North Tsubasa and was traveling at high speeds to the south end.

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_**If you like it Review/FAV/ALERT/ MAIL/ EAT COOKIES -- JUST LET ME KNOW SO I CAN DECIDE WHETHER TO PUT UP CHAPTER TWO**_

**_Korovee_  
**


	2. Accidental Meetings

**Chapter Two**

**Accidental Meetings**

**A/N: Sorry Its late! Enjoy! Happy New Years!**

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Syaoran sighed, glumly walking down the street, heading home. Not only had he forgotten his coat at the dojo, he'd been fired due to the lack of business the store was making and lack of money to pay him. He would need a new job soon, or else the debts he'd been left with after his father's death would catch up with him. If the next installment wasn't paid soon, they would evict him from his apartment. He shivered, his t-shirt still wet from the early rain. It was gone now, but the sky didn't look too promising either way.

It was really nice of Kurogane-san too, who'd picked him off the street when he got caught in a fight by accident. He immediately understood the boy's situation without asking and helped him out. He even shared his lunch and dinner with him—dressed his wounds. But after that, he had to allow the lessons, nothing else. After all, Syaoran couldn't rely on the man so heavily, he had a life too.

Fiddling with his keys, he tried to distract himself from the cold rain strumming on his skin, as well as his problems – When his small distraction was interrupted with a splash. Wheeling around, he quickly scanned his surroundings for the threat. There was no one around however, at first glance. Then, he looked to the river that ran by the street. A small figure was struggling to pull itself out of the raging flow. Immediately dropping his things, he slid down the hill and grabbed them by the arm.

The person looked up in surprise, both of them flinching. It was a girl, he realized, around his age, with the most brilliant shade of green eyes staring straight back into his. "Thank you…"She whispered before bursting into a fit of coughs.

Syaoran began pulling her onto the grass, and at one point almost fell in. After a while and what seemed like a century, he managed to get her up to the sidewalk. She was shivering violently, still coughing, but she gave him an awkward smile. At that moment, he suddenly felt obliged to rub her on the back, but since his brain was still functioning more than his hormones, he decided against it. So instead, he resorted to conversation.

"So…Um, what's your name?"

"S-Sakura Kinomoto…"Sakura cleared her throat, smiling. "What's yours?"

"Syaoran. Syaoran Li. So Sakura, I'm going to take a wild guess and say you like swimming?"

She blinked, confused. "Not particularly…"

"Then are you the spirit of the river? Because the first time I've found someone in the river."

Sakura smiled, realizing that Syaoran had been joking the whole time. "No. I was running and I fell in…" She coughed again, eyes beginning to droop. "But…It was an accident…"

Syaoran's smile faded, supporting her from under her arms as they stood up. "Can you walk?"

She nodded faintly, and closed her eyes, her weight suddenly pulling her forward. Syaoran's jumped, pulling her back into him. "Whoa!"

He yelped again, as her added weight almost caused them to fall into the river again, but he managed to regain his balance in time. He reached over her, snapping his fingers in her face. "Hey. Hey! Sakura!"

"Mhmm?"

"I'm going to get you some help, but I'm going to have to carry you on my back, is that okay?"

"Uh-huh…"

_But where can I go, _thought Syaoran bitterly as he managed to place Sakura onto his back. It's not as if she could tell him where she lived now – she was out like a light. He couldn't take her to his neighborhood either, _**he**_ couldn't stand it there, and _he lived there_. She was getting sick too, he could feel her forehead burning through his rain soaked shirt.

Sighing, he pulled his side bag over his left shoulder and started walking back to the dojo. Maybe Kurogane could help him…

* * *

Ryûo starred. "You read?" He asked, awestruck.

Kurogane scowled, tossing the book aside. "Shut up. What did you want?"

"Um…."

"Weren't you supposed to make dinner tonight?" Kurogane glanced at the clock and whiteboard with the written chores. "Yeah, you were. It's late, what the matter then?"

"See that's the problem…Someone's already there."

"What, did the kid come back for his jacket?"

"No." Ryûo pointed over his shoulder. "I mean, there's someone already cooking dinner in there for us."

For once, the man was silent, too stunned for words. Then, grumbling, he shoved the teen aside and began stomping his way to the kitchen. "I swear Ryûo, if this is your dumb idea of a joke…"

He slammed the door open, and froze with shock. A lithe blonde man turned in surprise, ladle in hand and clad in a frilly pink apron that swished as he moved. It was the apron that had been stuffed in the back of the attic when Sohma wasn't around to run the dojo – neither of the males had been willing to use it. The fair-haired man blinked, battering his long eyelashes to cover his large sapphire eyes – _wait, what the hell?_—and smiled.

"Hello! I was just cooking you dinner as a thanks for having let me stay in your attic for the past two weeks! Well, not that I ever asked you, or you ever knew that I was here, but yeah! So this is my thanks for not discovering me until now! By the way, my name is Fai!"

"…You've been living in my dojo's attic. For two weeks." Kurogane said dumbly. "Really?"

"Yeah, just about, more or less."

"…Ryûo, get me my sword and call the cops."

"Wait, wait!!" Fai waved the ladle around. Kurogane frowned. He seemed to be panicking, but the damn apron and his fake smile made him damn near impossible to predict or comprehend! "Please don't call the cops, I swear I'm not trying to hurt you Kurogane!"

The housemates starred suspiciously. Fai pointed at the wallet on the kitchen table. "I only looked at your id."

Kurogane sighed. "Give me one good reason not to call the cops on your ass…"

"I'm not a bad cook and I'm not trying to poison you?" Fai lifted up a half filled ladle and drank it. "See?"

Ryûo grinned devilishly. "I have this strange feeling that you already know this guy Kurogane-sensei."

"What the hell gives you that idea?"

"Well, for one, that's my wallet. Two, he knows you've been food poisoned before."

"HE JUST SAID HE LIVED IN THE ATTIC. HE PROBABLY HEARD ME TRYING TO MURDER YOU."

"All I'm saying is that you've always kinda struck me as the not so straight type."

"I'll kick your ass straight to hell kid; you won't even have time to think about a will."

"Well…"Fai turned his head to the side, smiling. "He does kind of look as though….He could be…"

"WILL BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP?!"

The door bell rang, the song ringing through the dojo. Everyone looked towards the door.

Kurogane growled. "I'm going to get the door. If either of you do something stupid, I'll wring both your necks, am I clear?!"

"Oh wait for me! I want to come!"

"Me too! What did you say your name was?"

"Fai! And you are…"

"Ryûo!"

"_**WILL YOU BOTH SHUT UP!?"**_

Kurogane slammed the door open. "_**WHAT?!"**_

Syaoran flinched, backing up a little. "If this is a bad time…" he began slowly.

Kurogane groaned inwardly. Leave it to the two morons to mess it up; the kid was already nervous around him as it was. "No, no." Kurogane held up a hand, sighing. He felt like such a moron—he was going to kill these two idiots. "Wait, just come in."

"….Are you sure?"

"Kid, you're drenched. Get inside."

Ryûo rushed forward, holding out his arms. "You can let her go, I'll catch her!"

Kurogane blinked, doing a double-take. His anger meter soared to inches before ten. "What the – _did you walk all the way from your house to here in the rain with that girl on your back?!"_

Syaoran nodded, not catching on to his rage, letting Sakura slide off his back. She fell limp, bridal style, into Ryûo's arms. He sat down, beginning to take off his shoes. "It was a long walk."

"_NO SHIT IT WAS A LONG WALK! YOU LIVE FOUR MILES FROM HERE!!"_

Ryûo blinked. "Really? Sweet!! Wasn't she heavy? Did you get tired?"

"A bit." He muttered, dumping his water logged shoes out the door, straining his wet socks outside as well.

Kurogane groaned, attempting to mull down his rage as he tossed him the spare slippers. "Here. I'll go fix you guys a bed."

"Huh?"

"I'm not letting you go home now, it's past eight. You can spend the night here for the weekend, if you want. Tonight's the only free night though."

Syaoran smiled, nodding. "Thank you."

It was just about then, that he noticed the other man peering over the corner. Syaoran looked at him curiously. "Um…Hello?"

Fai smiled. "Hello!!" He _skipped_ out from his hiding spot over to the teen, grinning from ear to ear. "My name is Fai D. Flourite! What's your name, if I may ask?"

"Syaoran." The teen began edging away. "If it's not rude or anything, I was wondering…What are you doing here?"

"Oh me? I've been living in the attic for about three weeks. But shush! Kuro-sama thinks I've only been here two weeks!"

Syaoran starred in disbelief. Something was nagging him in the back of his brain however. He knew he'd seen the man before, he just couldn't place his finger on it—

"Syaoran! Your girlfriends in a bed now!" yelled Ryûo at the top of his lungs gleefully, almost crashing into the wall.

The other teen turned pink. "She's not my girlfriend Ryûo!" He replied sullenly, embarrassed. "She's a girl I found—"

"Come on already!!" Ryûo yanked him forward onto his feet, the poor boy practically being dragged against the floor. "I'll take you to her room!"

Fai smiled at the happy scene, casually pulling out his watch and a flip book. "Interesting." He said, smiling as he wrote something down. "This could come in handy…"

He snapped the book closed, laughing to himself as he heard the teens arguing as they ran up the stairs. "This is an interesting place. I think I just might stay here a little longer…"

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**A/N:: Well the chapters should be around this long from now on. And the days are gonna go by really slow, so please have patience with me okay? I hope you like the really late chapter!! :D**


	3. What to do

Blame the summer for my retardation, but I actually had this chapter finished a few days ago.

I uploaded it onto FF...But mom called for dinner.

So when I got back, I didn't realize that it had only uploaded.

Not posted.

I'm really sorry guys, heh.

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**Chapter 3**

"So…is she your girlfriend?"

Syaoran blushed, furiously shaking his head. "N-NO, THAT'S NOT IT!" He whispered frantically, face lit like a furnace.

Ryûo lost his fight against his smile and burst out laughing. "Syaoran, you're hilarious." He muttered breathlessly, patting him on the back. The other teen fumed quietly, resorting to staring at the new girl sleep. As peaceful as she seemed, it was hard to believe she'd just been rescued from the nasty Tsubasa River. Silence fell over them, and Ryûo being Ryûo had to be the one to end it in the most embarrassing way thought of. "I can't believe you wouldn't change her out of her wet clothes."

Syaoran groaned. His head met his knees instead, as if trying to disappear from the world. "Please go away…"

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Demanded the other brunette teasingly, poking at Syaoran's side as if to prove some sort of point to him. "You have such a free pass to do this and you're going to let it slip through your fingers?"

"She's a _girl,_ Ryûo," Syaoran hissed, fighting with all his might to not look up. He knew the other was just teasing him (blame the Gods for his terrible chivalry), but sometimes he felt like Ryûo needed a little more common sense stuffed into him than others did. "If you haven't noticed, it's usually rude to do that a girl, especially if she's unconscious!"

"But didn't we learn in health class that if someone injured falls unconscious, they're giving you an okay to do what you need to?"

"_To save their life!"_

"If we don't change her out of the wet clothes however," noted Ryûo, pointing a proud finger in the air. "She could quite possibly catch a cold or hypothermia, which could result in bronchitis, which in turn leads to death." He smiled proudly when Syaoran made an odd choking noise into the ground. It was so much fun to tease his friend; he made it far too easy. "You're lucky Kurogane said he'd try to call Soma back for a little help—"

"Damn it Ryûo, do you always have to mess with him until he's curled up like this?" Kurogane's gruff voice muttered as he slid the door open. He looked down at Syaoran almost pitifully. "It's getting kind of sad to look at."

"You have a heart?" asked Ryûo feigning surprise. "Wow, and here I thought you were devoid of all emotion."

Earning himself another glare from the stand in teacher, the teen cackled to himself. Kurogane rolled his eyes, returning his attention back to the cell phone snuggly fit in between his shoulder and ear. Honestly, he'd come in to tell Ryûo to shut the hell up (God knows he was too loud), but it seemed to be a lost case at the moment. The phone clicked into a familiar voice, and Kurogane almost jumped; he'd forgotten who he'd been trying to contact in all the commotion.

'_Hello, this is Souma—'_

"Souma, I need you back here," rushed in Kurogane, about to explain further when the voicemail continued. His hopes dropped like a concrete slab.

'—_I am currently unavailable due to preparations for a wedding. If you need anything, please leave a message, and I will try to get back to you later this month.'_

Unable to listen to more, Kurogane hung up. Turning to look back inside the room, he frowned. Syaoran was staring intently at the girl, and Ryûo was…well…who knew, it was Ryûo after all. His sense of normalcy, or lack of one, was somewhat of an acquired flavor; Kurogane had learned a while back ago to just leave him be, it worked out best for everyone.

"I know I agreed to watch over him along with the dojo while you took care of Arashi's wedding," He grumbled unhappily, watching Ryûo nudge Syaoran incessantly. "But this is friggin' ridiculous; any more of it and I might actually run him through with a sword."

"I heard that, and I'm very positive that it's considered illegal, even in this dump city." Ryûo chirped; bouncing his way over to his teacher. "What are you so grumpy about? Are you jealous that Souma's spending all that time away from you? Think someone's going to up and steal her away?"

If only looks could kill. Kurogane yanked out the teens by the collar. Ryûo deserved to be pulled out, and while Syaoran hadn't really done anything wrong, his staring was turning his face red; He didn't think it was humanly possible for your face to explode, but then again, he didn't really want to take any chances.

"I'm not kidding when I say this Ryûo, do you want to spend the rest of your night out in a garbage bin?"

"I don't hear you denying anything." Sang the younger one, laughing cheerily. He loved the rain; it always made him so giddy.

"Oh, are we playing a game now?" Fai asked excitedly as he stuck his head out the nearest room. Kurogane promptly yanked him out too.

"Get out of my room."

"Oh that? Sorry, I was looking for you—"

"Like my voice down the hallway wasn't enough for you?"

Fai grinned. "I made the girl a tea before we left—"

"We?" Kurogane stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly turning to stare at the blonde, he frowned. "Who is _we_?"

A contrasting smile met his frown. "Why my coat and I of course! His name is Yuui, he's my fellow traveling companion through all the tough times."

The stand in teacher couldn't believe his ears. He'd let a crazy man live in his attic for the past two weeks. He had to be bloody freaking crazy to let this man stay with him another night…

"I opt for him staying!" Shouted Ryûo happily, lifting Syaoran's and his arm in sync. "He can cook!"

"He is _not_ staying." Growled Kurogane. "Didn't you just hear him give a name to a damned coat?"

"But what about the rules Kurogane?" Insisted Ryûo pitifully. Kurogane flinched under the Testament sounding words. At the dojo there were golden rules that Souma had set into place a long time ago, and of all people, Ryûo had them memorized by heart.

Kurogane had enough heart to know that Ryûo would never forget them; the teen had gone through too much to forget them.

"If you study here, you're allowed to stay as long as you wish, if you abide to do chores." Recounted the teen seriously, wriggling a bit within the tan mans strong grip. "If you cook, you are allowed to stay a night. Those without a home are welcome to remain here to get back on their feet. Travelers are welcome and the only threat is yourself."

Kurogane sighed. "…One Night." He muttered grimly, letting his captives free. Fai whooped with joy, and Syaoran scrambled for the wall. "Syaoran, go get the tea and turn off the lights downstairs. Bring it up to her and go to bed; it's late."

He watched silently as Fai (gushing with happiness) took the teen by the hand and practically flew down the stairs, animatedly discussing nonsense. Ryûo looked up at Kurogane nervously. "…What about that girl? Sakura?"

Kurogane leaned against the door, idly flipping the small cell phone around in his hand. "She stays too."

"I can tell you don't trust either of them though." Insisted the teen, frowning. "You have that look in your eye from before, when you were a cop and you came here the first time…"

Wine-red eyes met the wider younger green ones. "…That was a long time ago." Muttered the ex-cop. "Those days are long gone, and even if they weren't, I'm not completely heartless. I didn't kick you out, remember?"

Ryûo smiled sadly, shuffling his feet. Fai's laughter and Syaoran's stammers could be heard through the wooden floors. "Yeah…I know."

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_Next one might come a little later next week if we're lucky. I have viola audition for my towns orchestra, and I gotta tape my performance! Anyways, having good vacations? Yummy Ice cream and watermelon? Summer flings? Me? I auditions, clubs to run, events to plan, and summer homework to do. Damn._


End file.
